STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 1 59 



C. tuberosa Roxb. 



East Indies. Every part is esctilent; the roots are eaten raw.' 



Cervantesia tomentosa Rtiiz & Pav. Santalaceae. 

 Peru. Its seeds are edible.^ 



Cetraria islandica Linn. Lichenes. Iceland moss. 



Iceland moss is found in the northern regions of both continents and on elevated 

 mountains farther south. It serves as food to the people of Iceland and Lapland; the 

 bitterness is first extracted with water, after which the plant is pounded up into meal for 

 bread or boiled with milk.' 



Chaerophyllum bulbosum Linn. Umbelliferas. parsnip chervil, turnip-rooted 



CHERVIL. 



Etirope and Asia Minor. In Bavaria, this vegetable is found growing wild but is 

 said to have been first introduced from Siberia. Burnett " alludes to it as deleterious, 

 but Haller ^ affirms that the Kalmucks eat the roots with their fish and commend them 

 as a nutritive and agreeable food. Booth * says it is a native of France and, although 

 known to British gardeners since its introduction in 1726, it is only within the last few 

 years that attention has been directed to its culture as an esculent vegetable. In size 

 and shape, the root attains the dimensions of a small Dutch carrot. It is outwardly of 

 a grey color, but when cut the flesh is white, mealy and by no means unpleasant to the 

 taste. F. Webster," consul at Munich, Bavaria, in 1864, sent some seed to this coimtry 

 and says: " The great value of this vegetable, as an acquisition to an American gardener, 

 is not only its deliciousness to the epicure but the earliness of its maturity, fully supplying 

 the place of potatoes." The seed is now offered in our seed catalogs. The wild plant 

 is described by Camerarius,* 1588 and by Clusius,' 1601, and is also named by Bauhin.^" 

 1623. As a cultivated plant, it seems to have been first noted about 1855, when the root 

 is described as seldom so large as a hazelnut, while in 186 1 it had attained the size and shape 

 of the French round carrot. '^ This chervil appeared in American seed catalogs in 1884, 

 or earlier, and was described by Burr'^ for American gardens in 1863. It was known 

 in England in 1726 but was not tmder culture.'' 



Roxburgh, W. Pis. Coram. Coast 1:12, t. 9. 1795. 

 MueUer, F. Sd. Pis. 107. 1891. 



U. S. Disp. 24+. 1865. 



* Burnett U. S. D. A. Rpt. 500. 1864. 

 ' HaUer U. S. D. A. Rpt. 500. 1864. 



Booth, W. B. Treas. Bat. 1:74. 1870. 

 ^U. S. D.A. Rpt. 500. 1864. 



* CAvneraxius Hort. Med. 1588. 

 ' Clusius Hist. 2:200. 1601. 



"Bauhin, C. Pinax 161. 1623. 

 " Card. Chron. 887, 906. 1861. 

 "Burr, F. Field, Card. Veg. 31. 1863. 

 " Booth, W. B. Treas. Bat. 1:74. 1870. 



